Dendrochronological Analysis of Endangered Newfoundland Pine Marten Habitat: Decay Classification of Coarse Woody Debris in Western Newfoundland By

• Main Authors: Lanna Campbell, Colin P. Laroque
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.597.9672; http://www.mta.ca/madlab/2005-07.pdf

The maintenance of species and landscape biodiversity is a critical factor in sustainable forest management. The main objective of this study was to understand more about one component of the forest structure that is crucial to the survival of the endangered Newfoundland pine marten. I studied dead and dying trees in an old-growth forest, habitat components in which martens obtain their main food source. Old-growth boreal forest located along the Main River in Newfoundland has the second-largest population of Newfoundland pine marten in the world. I used standard dendrochronological methods to retrieve age and time-since-death data from standing and downed trees. Before the detrital trees were sampled, they were typified using our newly developed classification scheme based on old-growth forests in other regions of Canada. Forty-two samples representing all of the six decay class stages were collected within the quarter hectare plot and aged. It was concluded that a relationship existed between time since death and decay class which represents time intervals in which wood reaches a stage of decay.-3-